Fails the Bechdel test
The Player
1992. Directed by Robert Altman, written by Michael Tolkin.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
38 women characters. 10 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.
The film
Events in the life of a Hollywood studio executive unfold with the same unrealistic positive coincidences, ultimately culminating to a "happy ending," much like the movie scripts with which he works day in and out, after he accidentally murders someone.
- Released
- 08 May 1992
- Genres
- Comedy, Crime, Drama
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.5 / 10
- Metascore
- 86 / 100
- Awards
- Nominated for 3 Oscars. 24 wins & 33 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Griffin 342 lines, man
- June 120 lines, woman
- Grippin 62 lines, man
- Susan Avery 56 lines, woman
- Gripfin 40 lines
- Jan 39 lines, woman
- Kahane 39 lines, man
- Levison 38 lines, man
- Civella 32 lines, man
- Walter Stuckel 32 lines, man
Full cast, 109 people
- Tim Robbins as Griffin Mill
- Greta Scacchi as June Gudmundsdottir
- Fred Ward as Walter Stuckel
- Whoopi Goldberg as Detective Avery
- Peter Gallagher as Larry Levy
- Brion James as Joel Levison
- Cynthia Stevenson as Bonnie Sherow
- Vincent D'Onofrio as David Kahane
- Dean Stockwell as Andy Civella
- Richard E. Grant as Tom Oakley
- Sydney Pollack as Dick Mellen
- Lyle Lovett as Detective DeLongpre
- Dina Merrill as Celia
- Angela Hall as Jan
- Leah Ayres as Sandy
- Paul Hewitt as Jimmy Chase
- Randall Batinkoff as Reg Goldman
- Jeremy Piven as Steve Reeves
- Gina Gershon as Whitney Gersh
- Frank Barhydt as Frank Murphy
- Mike Kaplan as Marty Grossman
- Kevin Scannell as Gar Girard
- Margery Bond as Witness
- Susan Emshwiller as Detective Broom
- Brian Brophy as Phil
- Michael Tolkin as Eric Schecter
- Stephen Tolkin as Carl Schecter
- Natalie Strong as Natalie
- Peter Koch as Walter
- Pamela Bowen as Trixie
- Jeff Celentano as Rocco
- Steve Allen as Steve Allen
- Richard Anderson as Richard Anderson
- René Auberjonois as René Auberjonois
- Harry Belafonte as Harry Belafonte
- Shari Belafonte as Shari Belafonte
- Karen Black as Karen Black
- Michael Bowen as Michael Bowen
- Gary Busey as Gary Busey
- Robert Carradine as Robert Carradine
- Charles Champlin as Charles Champlin
- Cher as Cher
- James Coburn as James Coburn
- Cathy Lee Crosby as Cathy Lee Crosby
- John Cusack as John Cusack
- Brad Davis as Brad Davis
- Paul Dooley as Paul Dooley
- Thereza Ellis as Thereza Ellis
- Peter Falk as Peter Falk
- Felicia Farr as Felicia Farr
- Katarzyna Figura as Kasia Figura
- Louise Fletcher as Louise Fletcher
- Dennis Franz as Dennis Franz
- Teri Garr as Teri Garr
- Leeza Gibbons as Leeza Gibbons
- Scott Glenn as Scott Glenn
- Jeff Goldblum as Jeff Goldblum
- Elliott Gould as Elliott Gould
- Joel Grey as Joel Grey
- David Alan Grier as David Alan Grier
- Buck Henry as Buck Henry
- Anjelica Huston as Anjelica Huston
- Kathy Ireland as Kathy Ireland
- Steve James as Steve James
- Maxine John-James as Maxine John-James
- Sally Kellerman as Sally Kellerman
- Sally Kirkland as Sally Kirkland
- Jack Lemmon as Jack Lemmon
- Marlee Matlin as Marlee Matlin
- Andie MacDowell as Andie MacDowell
- Malcolm McDowell as Malcolm McDowell
- Jayne Meadows as Jayne Meadows
- Martin Mull as Martin Mull
- Jennifer Nash as Jennifer Nash
- Nick Nolte as Nick Nolte
- Alexandra Powers as Alexandra Powers
- Bert Remsen as Bert Ramsen
- Guy Remsen as Guy Remsen
- Patricia Resnick as Patricia Resnick
- Burt Reynolds as Burt Reynolds
- Jack Riley as Jack Riley
- Julia Roberts as Julia Roberts
- Mimi Rogers as Mimi Rogers
- Annie Ross as Annie Ross
- Alan Rudolph as Alan Rudolph
- Jill St. John as Jill St. John
- Susan Sarandon as Susan Sarandon
- Adam Simon as Adam Simon
- Rod Steiger as Rod Steiger
- Joan Tewkesbury as Joan Tewkesbury
- Brian Tochi as Brian Tochi
- Lily Tomlin as Lily Tomlin
- Robert Wagner as Robert Wagner
- Ray Walston as Ray Walston
- Bruce Willis as Bruce Willis
- Marvin Young as Marvin Young
- Ned Bellamy as Aaron Camp (uncredited)
- Steve Fuji as Funeral Guest (uncredited)
- Althea Gibson as Althea Gibson (uncredited)
- Ted Hartley as Party Guest (uncredited)
- Jack Jason as Jack (uncredited)
- Jack Kney as Jogger (uncredited)
- James McLindon as Jim (uncredited)
- Ritchie Montgomery as Ritchie Montgomery (uncredited)
- Derek Raser as Studio Mail Driver (uncredited)
- Scott Shaw as Scott Shaw (uncredited)
- Patrick Swayze as Patrick Swayze (uncredited)
- Dan Twyman as Funeral Guest (uncredited)
- Marina Zenovich as Studio Executive (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 14% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 123
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 1 | 3 |
| 7 to 9 | 2 | 7 |
| 10 to 12 | 8 | 6 |
| 13 to 15 | 3 | 14 |
| 16 to 18 | 14 | 25 |
| 19 to 21 | 4 | 6 |
| 22 to 24 | 19 | 18 |
| 25 to 27 | 2 | 4 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 20 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 51 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 to 39 | 4 | 17 |
| 40 to 42 | 4 | 34 |
| 43 to 45 | 6 | 7 |
| 46 to 48 | 5 | 1 |
| 49 to 51 | 5 | 7 |
| 52 to 54 | 4 | 7 |
| 55 to 57 | 17 | 37 |
| 58 to 60 | 6 | 19 |
| 61 to 63 | 0 | 59 |
| 64 to 66 | 1 | 2 |
| 67 to 69 | 18 | 25 |
| 70 to 72 | 26 | 23 |
| 73 to 75 | 1 | 20 |
| 76 to 78 | 8 | 23 |
| 79 to 81 | 6 | 11 |
| 82 to 84 | 1 | 12 |
| 85 to 87 | 5 | 12 |
| 88 to 90 | 4 | 10 |
| 91 to 93 | 18 | 53 |
| 94 to 96 | 17 | 14 |
| 97 to 99 | 3 | 1 |
| 100 to 102 | 3 | 1 |
| 103 to 105 | 8 | 7 |
| 106 to 108 | 17 | 16 |
| 109 to 111 | 2 | 1 |
| 112 to 114 | 4 | 9 |
| 115 to 117 | 6 | 7 |
| 118 to 120 | 9 | 16 |
| 121 to 123 | 9 | 47 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 29 are women's.
270 lines from women, 652 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
38 women and 64 men in the cast. 10 women and 17 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 13 of 1,075.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 83 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 27% of the words (3,157), men 73% (8,352). Women have 29% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit D: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
2
Two men
60
Exhibit E: behind the camera
2 of the 12 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Robert Altman (man)
- Written by
- Michael Tolkin (man)
- From the novel by
- Michael Tolkin (man)
- Produced by
- Nick Wechsler (man), David Brown (man), Michael Tolkin (man)
- Shot by
- Jean Lépine (man)
- Edited by
- Maysie Hoy (woman), Geraldine Peroni (woman)
- Music by
- Thomas Newman (man)
- Production design by
- Ken Kaufman (gender not listed), Stephen Altman (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
0 women, 6 men, 4 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 3 men, 4 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 6 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 2 men
-
Editing
2 women, 0 men
-
Lighting
0 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 32 on average. Men: 41 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Cynthia Stevenson 29, Greta Scacchi 32, Whoopi Goldberg 36
Men
Vincent D'Onofrio 32, Tim Robbins 33, Richard E. Grant 35, Peter Gallagher 36, Brion James 47, Fred Ward 49, Dean Stockwell 56
Exhibit G: the money
It made 2.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $8 million
- Box office
- $21.7 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 123 scenes and 1,075 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
